Picking Roommates Electronically

from the how-things-change dept

Back when I went to college, the only say I had in picking a roommate was whether or not I smoked. Other than that, it was completely random. So, it shouldn't be a huge surprise that the match didn't work out too well (it probably had something to do with the fact that he came to school with the mission of converting as many people as possible to his particular brand of religion, and target #1 happened to be living in the same room). I heard of other colleges that made students fill out a more detailed survey and try to match people that way. Now, however, the college freshman matching game is going electronic. Some colleges, such as Emory, have set up an online "dating" system to find your freshman roommate. All the incoming students set up profiles, and then go through others profiles to find someone who matches. I'd be curious to find out, afterwards, if the matches turn out any better than the random method. There were plenty of people who became quite close to their freshman year roommate when randomly paired, and I'd bet many of the freshman who go through the electronic process will discover that their actual roommate is nothing like what they advertised in their profile. In fact, the profiles may cause more upset roommate pairs, when they realize that their expectations were incorrect.
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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 Aug 2003 @ 2:16am

    Berkeley System

    Could do the opposite, and force people who have nothing in common to live with each other, make men and women share the same bathroom. There were instructions for women on how to use urinals standing up. It has a way of dramatically reducing teen sex drive so students concentrate more on their studies.

    One small lesson I got from that was that in places like Borders or Starbucks, if there is a line for the men's room, just go to the damn women's room.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Chris, 7 Aug 2003 @ 5:45am

    No Subject Given

    I think there is some value in the random system. For most of us - the dorm is our first experience trying to live with others. Having to work at it a bit is a good thing in the log run.

    My roomate loaned my bed to his best friend and his girlfriend. For some reason, I decided to come home that night and not sleep at the frat house. Hilarity ensued...

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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